Harper's plan had worked. The Captain was now leading the discussion on the design of the PLS drive in his proper place at the head of things and Harper was at his preferred place at the back of the crowd at Val's side. All he had to do is translate when Dylan slipped into High Guard-ese.
All in all the tour had been quite civilized. Only a few times did Dylan or Trance have to stop some inappropriate handling of equipment. And those, as far a Harper could see, stemmed from technical curiosity not any attempt to sabotage.
Thus, he had been able to spend his time regaling his favourite Nietzschean babe with tales of his engineering prowess. Validia had listened attentively and asked pertinent questions when he had missed details. He had to occasionally stop and pinch himself.
Val and he were discussing her upgrades to the Panthera's PSL drive, when Rommie's voice came over the comm. "Captain."
"Here," Dylan said cutting off a question by Favian. The Nietzschean made a face at this rude interruption, his ice blue eyes scintillated with annoyance.
"We have incoming from a ship in the alien fleet. It appears to be a Sabran fighter, but it is not responding to my hails."
"Any life signs?"
"Yes. One human and one unfamiliar, possibly Utgan. The human readings are low, heart and respiratory are critical."
"Andromeda prep Hanger Bay Four for an emergency landing. Harper you have Command. Trance, Hanger Bay Four. Lets bring it people!" Dylan turned to Charlemagne. "Remind me to never again give you another tour."
Harper caught the Archduke's answering chuckle as he ran from the Engine room.
He hit Command ten minutes later breathing hard. He punched up an external view of the Sabran fighter and Rommie's craft entering the portside Hanger 4 then he ran a scan on the XD's fleet looking for changes.
"Harper." Andromeda said from the main screen
"Here."
"I'm processing the logs from the fighter and it looks like it come in from 5.3.7 on the grid."
Harper punched in the coordinates and boosted the visual, then reran an EM and particle scans on that position. He stepped back and watched the readings play across the large vid.
